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Nepali
Nepali
Nepali is a language spoken in Nepal, Bhutan, India, and Burma by over 20 million people.
Many of the students who are coming to Colorado as Nepalese refugees have a complex history. Many were ethnic Nepalese whose families were living in Bhutan for many generations. When Bhutan had a cultural revolution of sorts, ethnic Nepalese immigrants (who had lived in Bhutan for generations, having immigrated from India as workers) were made to leave but had nowhere to go. For this reason, long-term (30 plus years) refugee camps were created. These differ from other camps around the world in several key ways:
Many refugees were able to seek employment in Nepal, outside of the camps.
Students were generally educated in Nepali or English.
Sounds: Nepali has many sounds found in English, with more variations based on how air is released when the sound are made. P, b, and other consonants have ‘plosive’ and other versions.
Though the sounds exist in Nepali, 's' and 'sh' are sometimes not differentiated in the same way we do in English. This can be confusing to students trying to learn English.
Writing: Nepali is written using the Sanskrit script
Word Order: Nepali has a fairly free word order, though subject-object-verb order is somewhat dominant.
Gestures: Nepalese people have a different way of nodding ‘yes’ than we do. Instead of nodding the head up and down, they not side to side, bringing the ear down and the chin to the side.
Useful Phrases
Useful Phrases
Welcome: स्वागतम् (svāgatam)
General greeting (hello, goodbye): नमस्ते (namaste)
How are you? तपाईंलाई कस्तो छ ? (tapāī lai kasto cha?)
What’s your name? तपाईँको नाम के हो ? (tapāī̃ko nāma ke ho?)
My name is . . . मेरो नाम ... हो (mero nāma … ho )
Good morning: शुभ प्रभात (śubha prabhāta)
Yes: हो (ho)
No: होइन (hoina)
1, 2, 3, 4, 5: eck, doi, tin, char, panch
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Resources
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